EC eyes transparent ballot boxes for DCC elections
Monday, 18 August 2008
The Election Commission (EC) wants to try out transparent ballot boxes in Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) elections before general polls, a commissioner said, reports bdnews24.com.
Election commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain, however, said steel ballot boxes would be preferred to transparent ballot boxes in the upazila elections.
The commission plans to hold Dhaka city polls by mid-October and elections to more than 300 upazila parishad sometime before December when the parliamentary elections are due.
Commission officials said about 0.25 million (2.5 lakh) transparent ballot boxes would be shipped from Canada by October for national elections.
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is funding the project on the see-through ballot boxes taken by the UNDP and the government.
"Even if all the transparent ballot boxes are in hand as per the agreement those will not be used for upazila elections," Sakhawat told the news agency recently.
"However, we have plans to use transparent ballot boxes on an experimental basis before the national elections. So, those may be used in DCC polls."
"The process of making transparent ballot boxes is complete, now they will start arriving. The first consignment would reach Chittagong port in the first week of next month," Rafiqul Islam, the joint secretary at the EC Secretariat, said.
The elections to Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal and Khulna city corporations were held on August 4.
The tenure of DCC expired in May last year, but voting could not be held as the work on the voter list was not complete.
Mihir Sarwar Morshed, deputy secretary (election) at EC Secretariat, said about 13,000 ballot boxes would be required for more than 2,000 polling centres catering to more than 3.5 million (35 lakh) voters in the DCC.
The commission in June started collecting transparent ballot boxes for the ninth parliamentary elections in consultation with the political parties.
At the initiative of the Economic Relations Division (ERD), the government and UNDP signed the Tk 453.7 million (45.37 crore) "Translucent Ballot Boxes" project.
Election commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain, however, said steel ballot boxes would be preferred to transparent ballot boxes in the upazila elections.
The commission plans to hold Dhaka city polls by mid-October and elections to more than 300 upazila parishad sometime before December when the parliamentary elections are due.
Commission officials said about 0.25 million (2.5 lakh) transparent ballot boxes would be shipped from Canada by October for national elections.
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is funding the project on the see-through ballot boxes taken by the UNDP and the government.
"Even if all the transparent ballot boxes are in hand as per the agreement those will not be used for upazila elections," Sakhawat told the news agency recently.
"However, we have plans to use transparent ballot boxes on an experimental basis before the national elections. So, those may be used in DCC polls."
"The process of making transparent ballot boxes is complete, now they will start arriving. The first consignment would reach Chittagong port in the first week of next month," Rafiqul Islam, the joint secretary at the EC Secretariat, said.
The elections to Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal and Khulna city corporations were held on August 4.
The tenure of DCC expired in May last year, but voting could not be held as the work on the voter list was not complete.
Mihir Sarwar Morshed, deputy secretary (election) at EC Secretariat, said about 13,000 ballot boxes would be required for more than 2,000 polling centres catering to more than 3.5 million (35 lakh) voters in the DCC.
The commission in June started collecting transparent ballot boxes for the ninth parliamentary elections in consultation with the political parties.
At the initiative of the Economic Relations Division (ERD), the government and UNDP signed the Tk 453.7 million (45.37 crore) "Translucent Ballot Boxes" project.